This story about this weekend's WalkingTown DC and BikingTown DC events comes to us from Pat Wheeler of the Cultural Tourism DC Board:

Cultural Tourism DC celebrates the history and heritage of Washington, DC with the Fall Edition of WalkingTown DC and BikingTown DC on Saturday and Sunday, September 25 and 26. This two-day event of DC features guided tours in all eight wards of the city. Healthy for both body and mind, this weekend of more than 100 free walking and biking tours allows visitors and residents to explore both new and familiar places throughout the city. From the well-known to the unfamiliar, tour topics explore all things DC, including neighborhood history, art, community heritage, environmental initiatives, and much more.

“Residents and visitors crave a healthy, safe, and accessible way to get out and explore the city,” said Linda Harper, executive director of Cultural Tourism DC. “WalkingTown DC and BikingTown DC offers a great opportunity for people to walk around the diverse and often under-explored parts of a familiar city.”

This edition of WalkingTown DC, sponsored by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and BikingTown DC features 20 new walking and biking tours.

Roosevelt Island: A Walk Through 90 Acres of Natural and Human History in the Potomac River (Saturday and Sunday, 3:30 - 5:30 pm). Join Paul Elliott, author of 60 Hikes within 60 Miles, Washington, DC, for an exploration through this island’s remarkable history.

bikePPTC: Rock ‘n’ Roll Cycling Tour (Sunday, 9:15 am - 12:15 pm). Potomac Peddlers Touring Club (bikePPTC) guide cyclists though DC sites that made musicians famous - from the birthplace of hardcore punk to the arena where The Beatles first played on US soil.

Tours back by popular demand include:

Rebuilding Mount Vernon Triangle (Sunday, 9 - 10:30 am). Discover the emerging Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood and hear about the history of this once forgotten area, including its rebirth with new retail, offices, and high-rise condos.

If This Street Could Talk: Pierre L’Enfant’s Eighth Street, SE, including the United States Marine Corps Barracks (Sunday, 12 noon - 1:30 pm). This tour reviews historic sites along Eighth Street from 1791 through World War II and includes a tour of the Marine Barracks.

Capitol Sites@Nite (Saturday and Sunday, 5 - 8 pm). Bike the Sites® on and around the National Mall and Capitol Hill. Riders will be equipped with complimentary rental bikes from Bike and Roll Washington, DC.

Cultural Tourism DC’s Neighborhood Heritage Trail

This edition of WalkingTown DC includes nine guided tours of Cultural Tourism DC’s Neighborhood Heritage Trails, the official Walking Trails of Washington DC, and the African American Heritage Trail, Washington DC. Neighborhood Heritage Trails are available year round as self-guided tours but during WalkingTown DC historians and community leaders lead tours of the trails and offer insight into the neighborhood. Two Neighborhood Heritage Trails featured during WalkingTown DC include:

Civil War to Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail, West Loop (Saturday and Sunday, 9 - 10:30 am) Home to southern sympathizers before and during the Civil War, this part of downtown was once a prime residential area evidence of which is still seen today by the presence of three major churches and the former Franklin School.

A Neighborhood Gem East of the Anacostia River: The Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail (Saturday, 11 am - 12:30 pm) This tour features the history of the Deanwood area, as well as the entrepreneurial, self-sufficient men and women who have called this part of the city home for generations. A community screening of the Deanwood Oral History Project, an intergenerational film project created by youth in the summer of 2010, will follow the tour at the IDEA Public Charter School at 1 pm.

While some tours are walk-up, most require advance registration at www.CulturalTourismDC.org. Many tours are wheelchair and stroller accessible. Hike the Gardens and Grounds of the National Arboretum (Saturday 10 am - 12 pm) will be presented with American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation.

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